PRINCETON: University copes with snow storm

By Angela Wu, Special Writer
   Students at Princeton University woke up on Monday to a thick blanket of snow covering the campus — and the dreaded “Classes will be held as scheduled,” notice on the university’s Web site. While school districts and universities in the area closed for the day, Princeton students trudged to class.
   The university delayed its opening for “noncritical” staff until 10:30 a.m., but students, aside from those whose professors were unable reach campus due to the storm, were expected to attend class. “Critical” employees, including snow removal crews, dining hall staff and Public Safety officials, were also expected to report to work as normal.
   Employees began working on large-scale plowing as early as midnight on Monday, clearing most of the campus’ walkways by dawn, said Jonathan Baer, the director of building services at the university.
   ”There was only one storm last year that required this kind of all-hands-on-deck approach,” Mr. Baer said. Monday’s storm “was not as severe as what we were anticipating,” he said. “We had heard reports of 10 to 14 inches of snow, but I doubt that the snow on campus is more than 6 or 7 inches.”
   Though the campus remained open, some professors canceled classes. Many were stranded in airports across the country or were unable to commute to campus due to the weather.
   Kezmen Clifton, a student from St. Louis, Mo., had an 11 a.m. class canceled. “My professor said she couldn’t come. . .because the trains are off-schedule,” she said. “It’s going to be a nice nap time for me.”
   The Northeast Corridor service of the New Jersey Transit rail system, which many professors rely on to commute to the Princeton campus, was delayed by 20 to 30 minutes due to the weather, according to New Jersey Transit’s Web site.
   ”I took my wife’s car to work because she has front-wheel drive, but I was prepared to walk,” said Princeton economics professor Alan Blinder, who lives about two miles from campus.
   The last time the university canceled classes was in February of 2003, during the President’s Day snowstorm that dropped almost 2 feet of snow on the campus.
   The university has a “snow group,” composed of representatives from many departments, that decides how to respond to extreme weather, said spokeswomam Cass Cliatt.
   As almost all students live on campus, the group does not need to consider student commuters, Ms. Cliatt said.
   ”Closing the campus is very rare and is done only under extreme, unsafe conditions,” Ms. Cliatt said. “This would take place usually only in a blizzard or other extreme weather situation, and we believe such closing has happened only three times in the past 15 years — in 1996 for a blizzard, in February of 2003 also because of heavy snow and in April of 2007 because of heavy flooding in the region.”
   The College of New Jersey, in Ewing, canceled all classes and closed its offices on Monday because of the heavy snowfall. Rutgers University canceled all day and evening classes on its New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses, though its offices and departments remained open.